When it comes to consistently producing quality footballers, very few Football League clubs can trump Crewe Alexandra.

The likes of Dean Ashton, Danny Murphy, Nick Powell, Ashley Westwood, Ben Amos and Nicky Maynard are just a handful of names who have come through the Crewe youth system and it has kept producing this season too.

Charlie Kirk, Callum Ainley and Perry Ng are the latest names that will be high on the list of a few clubs come the summer.

But a large part of what keeps the club operational is selling on these exciting youngsters for a sizeable profit when they get the chance and, speaking exclusively to Football League World, losing the trio is not something that manager David Artell says he fears.

“Well we’re in a position where, if they do leave us, we’ll be in a position to replace them with our own,” he said.

“We’ve got a conveyor belt and that conveyor belt is keeping going. So if they do go, we’ll wish them all the best.

“They’ll be missed obviously but it won’t be massively detrimental to the first team because we’ve got players that are good enough to replace them.”

Wingers Kirk and Ainley, both 21, have notched an impressive 14 goals and nine assists between them this season, whilst Ng, 22, has been an effervescent presence at right-back, providing seven assists himself.

Despite their highly-rated nature, the club insist that interest in the pair back in the January transfer window was only ever casual, with no official bids being received. Although that is expected to change come the summer.

And for Artell, he already knows two players who are ready to make that step up when the inevitable happens:

“You’ve got the Owen Dales of this world and the Oli Finneys who have played a couple of games and they’re ready to step in and are first team ready.”

This weekend sees the Alex welcome Cheltenham Town as they look to make it three wins in a row in League Two and continue to push for the play-offs.